This document sets out the corporate governance framework within which the Audit Commission operates. The Commission is an independent body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively, to achieve high-quality local services for the public. Its remit covers 11,000 bodies in England, which between them spend more than 180 billion pounds of public money each year. The work spans across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services.The Commission’s mission is to be a driving force in the improvement of public services, to promote proper stewardship and governance and help those responsible for public services to achieve better outcomes for citizens. The framework lays down responsibilities and procedures which are the foundation for ensuring that the Commission fulfills its aim to be a model of excellent corporate governance and so set the standards it expects of others through its own example.